Mark Daly (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I propose an amendment to the Order of Business that No. 20, which is leave to publish the national anthem Bill, be taken before No. 1.

We approach the 110th anniversary of the composition of "The Soldier's Song" which was later translated into "Amhrán na bhFiann". As a key symbol of our State, it is worthy of protection and respect. Other key symbols such as the flag are provided for in Article 7 of the Constitution. The Taoiseach's Department has guidelines and protocols around its use and what should and should not happen with regard to the national flag. With regard to our harp, we are the only nation on earth that has a single musical instrument as its national emblem. That is because of our culture and musical heritage. It is protected by patent law placed upon it by the State.

The reason the Seanad carried out a public consultation is the national anthem fell out of copyright protection in 2013. There was public consultation held in the Seanad Chamber and as a result the House has been responsible for the production, in collaboration with the deaf community, of the first ever official Irish Sign Language version of the national anthem. It was a student from Bishopstown community school, Alain Newstead, who identified the fact that until now there has been no version.

On the 100th anniversary of Dáil Éireann's beginnings we should protect our national anthem and give it formal recognition. Through the public consultation, we discovered the State never formally adopted the Irish language version of the national anthem. It is something that has to be rectified. As we are all aware, the national anthem has been used in advertising and the legislation would put in place a process whereby if somebody wanted to use it, he or she would have to apply to the Department of Finance, as previously required under the copyright legislation. I ask for the leave of the House to publish the Bill and debate the issue.

The public consultation, as a result of the work of this House, means for the first time ever we have protocols for the use of our national anthem. Heretofore that was not the case. There was no one set of protocols for our national anthem. That has now been rectified as a result of everybody in the House and the public consultation process we undertook. The next step is to formally recognise the national anthem and give it the protection that is its due.